Delving into Sports

 I acknowledged early on in these blogs that I try to write about things I know.  One of them is sports.  I am not a sport's fanatic.  I am a fan of the Philly sport's teams, but I only watch the Eagles.   I was a Phillies fan, but baseball lost me when the players went on strike.  I love the game of basketball, but I do not like where college and professional basketball is now.  I was not in Philadelphia when the Flyers won their Stanley Cups, so I never got into the game.  It is like soccer on skates.  I appreciate their athleticism, but I do not know the fundamentals of the games.  

I wanted to play football in high school.  I was not big by any standard.  But I was strong and athletic.  I think I would have been a good football player.  I went out for my freshmen team.  A few weeks into training, I was in synagogue and brushed up against a table that was only on three legs.  It was hold the boiling water for tea.  I got severe burns on my foot, and by the time I was eligible to return, the season was over.  I did not go out for football my sophomore year, but played in the band.

If spite of not playing organized football, I played a lot of sand lot football.  As we got older, we switched from touch to tackle.  Once I overcame the fear of getting hurt by tackling someone, I knew how to tackle.  My favorite position was quarterback.  I had a strong arm and really good accuracy.  I only had a few weeks to try to learn the position when the assistant coach told me that I was moving to running back.  The coaches thought I was stronger there.  

Speaking of running backs, there are two from my hometown of Salem, NJ, that have excelled.  They are Lydell Mitchell and Jonathan Taylor.  I was a sophomore when Lydell was a senior.  I did not play football so I am thankful that I never had to try to tackle him.  I did play against him in basketball.  I was on JV and we scrimmaged against the varsity.  Lydell was going in for a layup and I blocked it.  It might be the greatest athletic moment of my career.  Lydell went on to Penn State, teamed up with Franco Harris, and set a touchdown record.  He played professional for the Colts but he did not have the career that Franco had with the Steelers.

I have a cousin Bobby who got his PhD. in Wisconsin and was director of bans at Butler University.  He rooted for the Salem Rams, the Wisconsin Badgers, and the Indianapolis Colts.  Taylor was a fulfillment of a dream.  He lives in Atlanta, but still watches every game that Taylor plays.  I hope Taylor does well, but my loyalties are to the Eagles.  I am very upset that Bobby, who grew up an Eagle's fan, abandoned them for the Colts.  I can understand the Colts as his number two hometown team.  

My earliest memories of the Eagles are of Norm Van Brocklin and Pete Retzlaff.  Van Brocklin came to the Eagles in 1958, when I was six.  I remember either listening to games on the radio until the games were televised.  I remember going once a year to Franklin Field, the home field of the University of Pennsylvania.  The Eagles played there from 1958 to 1970.  It is an exceptionally good venue for football.  My father along with two my mother's brothers had season tickets.  Starting when I was six, one of my uncles would take me to a game.  

I remember the 1960 NFL Championship.  My father was at the game.  It was the Eagles versus the perennial champions, the Green Bay Packers.  It was a tradition in my family that after an Eagles game, those who went to the game went out for Chinese food afterwards.  The night of the championship, my grandfather, mother, and sister came into Philadelphia to meet my father at a Chinese restaurant to celebrate.  We listened to the game over the radio.  I have been a loyal fan ever since.  As I tell my friends, there are two sports seasons--the Eagles and waiting for the Eagles.